After Senthil Balaji's arrest, ED now finds ‘incriminating documents’ in raids at TN minister, son's house

On Tuesday, the ED said that the raids at the premises of DMK minister K Ponmudi and his son revealed incriminating documents.

Chennai: DMK minister K Ponmudi who was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers till 3am on Tuesday, was summoned again the same evening.

ED said that its probe in this case revolves around an “alleged issuance of red sand mining licences at five locations illegally by Ponmudy. (HT photo)

ED began raiding Ponmudi, Tamil Nadu’s higher education minister and his son Gautham Sigamani, a parliamentarian, on June 17 at seven locations including Chennai. On Tuesday, the ED said that the searches revealed incriminating documents, ₹81.7 lakh in cash and British pounds. “ ₹13 lakh was seized and fixed deposits of ₹ 41.9 crore have been freezed,” the ED said.

The federal agency said that its probe in this case revolves around an “alleged issuance of red sand mining licences at five locations illegally by Ponmudy, who was the minister for mines” between 2007 and 2011.

The ED has said that Ponmudi had issued illegal licenses for red sand mining to his son, relatives and some benami holders, and that a huge amount of hawala funds generated from this mining business was used to purchase companies abroad. “”The proceeds obtained from illegal mining were deposited in benami accounts and were layered through multiple transactions and accounts,” the agency said.

Two overseas entities -- PT Excel Mengindo in Indonesia and Universal Business Ventures FZE in the UAE -- were acquired, the ED said. The Indonesian company was shown to have been purchased for a nominal amount of ₹41.57 lakh and it was later sold for over ₹100 crore in 2022. “It is suspected that a huge amount of cash was transferred through hawala and infused in purchase of these overseas entities,” ED said.

After the ED arrested minister V Senthil Balaji, Ponmudi is the second minister in the DMK cabinet to be questioned. Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin who was attending the opposition meeting in Bengaluru spoke to Ponmudy over phone on June 18 and assured him that the ruling party will stand by him. “The chief minister told Ponmudy that the party will support him morally, politically and legally to oppose and break the political vendetta of the Union BJP government,” a statement from the government read.